Antifa is a broad coalition from centre to far left and beyond.
Most of the troublemakers are black bloc types, the anarchists and nihilists are hardly going to be concerned about lawbreaking are they, if they were, they wouldn’t be anarchists.
Similarly the Communists, Trotskyists, Maoists etc are going to be equally contemptuous of capitalist infrastructure and authorities.
I’m broadly supportive of violent direct action against the far right, having walked down Cable Street many a time, and even understand the place of anti-authoritarianism/anarchy. I think of it as a pressure release valve, we can’t all be obedient citizens, some people just aren’t wired for it, this is their niche. It also sends a message to the bourgeoisie, if they squeeze too tight, the people might just rise up. It’s happened before and it will happen again.
The misogyny of the alt-right is weird. It doesn’t even track with their ur-Right, the Nazis, who at least had a warped version of putting women on a pedestal and tended to de-emphasize sex anyhow, at least in public. I suspect that the vast majority of these types, at least the cis-male types (are there any others?) have deeply rooted self-confidence issues and secretly fear they are, in fact, gay.
Which would be no problem whatsoever, except, from talking to the LBGTQ community folks I know, that group wouldn’t take these assholes if they offered a million bucks. So, I suspect that in the grand scheme of things, the alt-right dudebros are hosed.
Several dozen torch-wielding protesters gathered in Charlottesville’s Lee Park just after 9 p.m. Saturday, chanting “You will not replace us,” “Russia is our friend” and “Blood and soil.”
After about 10 minutes, Charlottesville police arrived at the scene following an altercation between protesters. The crowd quickly dispersed with no further incidents, according to police.
In April, Charlottesville City Council voted to sell the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that stands in the park, but a judge earlier this month issued an injunction that prevents the city from doing so for six months.
The city’s decision has drawn considerable consternation from Southern heritage groups, Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart and a number of others in Virginia and elsewhere.
Richard Spencer, a University of Virginia graduate and a white nationalist who popularized the term “alt-right,” wrote about the events at the statues of Confederate Gens. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Lee in several Twitter posts.
[…]
“Whoever these people were, the intolerance and hatred they seek to promote is utterly disgusting and disturbing beyond words,” Erich Reimer, chairman of the Charlottesville Republican party, said in a statement. “This is a time for our community to come together on our common values of liberty, equality and justice for all, in stark contrast to them.”
[…]
The most dramatic gestures of cooperation between the Russian Empire and the United States came in the autumn of 1863, as the Laird rams crisis hung in the balance. On September 24, the Russian Baltic fleet began to arrive in New York harbor. On October 12, the Russian Far East fleet began to arrive in San Francisco. The Russians, judging that they were on the verge of war with Britain and France over the British-fomented Polish insurrection of 1863, had taken this measure to prevent their ships from being bottled up in their home ports by the superior British fleet. These ships were also the tokens of the vast Russian land armies that could be thrown in the scales on a number of fronts, including the northwest frontier of India; the British had long been worried about such an eventuality. In mid-July 1863, French Foreign Minister Droun de Lhuys was offering London the joint occupation of Poland by means of invasion. But the experience of the Confederate commerce raiders had graphically illustrated just how effective even a limited number of warships could be when they turned to commerce raiding, which is what the Russian naval commanders had been ordered to do in case of hostilities. The Russian admirals had also been told that, if the US and Russia were to find themselves at war with Britain and France, the Russian ships should place themselves under Lincoln’s command and operate in synergy with the US Navy against the common enemies. It is thus highly significant that the Russian ships were sent to the United States.
As a graduate of the University of Virginia, it’s not at all pleasant to see those pictures of those rallies. Admittedly, UVA has always had an odd tension between its progressive, intellectual side and its nostalgic, moonlight and magnolia aspects. Most of this centers on old Tom, who when I was there was referred to as “Mr. Jefferson,” and was spoken of as if he was in the next room (I did crib that phrase from somewhere, but it’s oh so true). Jefferson, though predating the Late Unpleasantness, or the War Between the States as it is sometimes called, of course was a slave holder and epitomized the way many southerners wish the old days to be remembered. Most of these constructions are at best one step up from the “happy darkies in the field” crap you used to get in pre-WWII history books. It doesn’t help that the scions of the Old Dominion’s elite often end up in Charlottesville (Rugby Road frats are and have been notorious for a reason), and this bunch is not, shall we say, known for either its probity or its discretion, even if many are quite intelligent after a fashion.
